Ryan Vickers “retired out of the race” but still on the podium in Donington BSB Race 3

Ryan Vickers was on the podium for the first time since he won at Thruxton in BSB Race 3 at Donington Park last weekend, but the weekend wasn’t without its difficulties.

Following a seventh in Race 1 and an 11th in Race 2, Vickers — who has shown dominant pace at times in 2024 — took third place in BSB Race 3 at Donington, which was red-flagged at the beginning of the penultimate lap after a multi-rider crash at the Melbourne Hairpin.

However, not only did that third place come with some drama, it also didn’t completely mask the disappointment of the weekend as a whole for Vickers, who had shown good speed at the Leicestershire venue in May before a qualifying crash put him out of action for all three races.

“I’m really disappointed,” Vickers admitted in review of his weekend at Donington, “but then the last race we managed to salvage a podium.

“We got very lucky to get a podium because we actually had a mechanical issue and I retired out of the race coming out of Redgate.

“But, luckily, I looked up and it had been red-flagged. So, we got lucky again.”

When asked what the problem was that almost caused his retirement from Race 3, Vickers said: “There’s loads of issues. We’ve had a few, I can’t really say much, but we’ve had a lot of issues and we’ll bounce back.”

Although the speed has clearly been there from Vickers this year, he’s had several setbacks, too, that have preventing him from demonstrating that pace.

“We’ve had a few too many mistakes, for all sorts of reasons,” he said. “But we’ve just got to try to nail down and get sorted, because we are fast and we know when the bike’s correct we’ll be battling for podiums and wins.”

The context of the championship complicates things for Vickers, as his OMG Yamaha teammate is four points in the lead of the BSB Championship with one round to go.

Alluding to team orders, Vickers said: “Even if I’m not allowed to win at the minute, I can at least enjoy being on the podium with my teammate and enjoy watching him go to victory.”

Even still, Vickers — who was recently confirmed as a Motocorsa Ducati rider for the 2025 WorldSBK season — is clear about his goals for the last BSB round of the season.

“I need to try and win every race, and if Kyle’s [Ryde] in second, I’ll probably let him past,” he said.

“It’s one of them, at the end of the day, until that situation arises I’m out there to try and win every single race.”